Mistaken Identity
by Dr. Cameron
Summary: A fifteen year old tragedy is torturing Allison Cameron. She needs help, and House comes to her rescue. A Cameroncentered story, CamHouse implied, but will probably only stay a friendship.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, this is my first shot at fan fiction, so bare with me:). It's a Cameron-centered story, and I wasn't really planning on Cam/House, but it just sort of happened that way. I'm not totally finished writing it yet, but the first few chapters are done. It might not even turn into a romance, I'll keep it just a friendship, we'll see.

Disclaimer: House is not mine. Boo-hoo.

Reviews are welcome, and enjoy!

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_Why Allie? Why did you have to do this to me?_

Allison Cameron bolted upright, gasping for air. She'd had another nightmare, and it was worse than the rest. She'd seen her again, but it was more graphic this time. She was so pale, and there was a bullet hole in her head, and blood all over her.

She couldn't escape it. She never could. For 15 years it had been haunting her, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Her friends had suggested therapy, but she refused, it was hard enough for her to tell the story to them, let alone a complete stranger.

She looked at the clock. 2:30 am. There was no way she'd be able to get back to sleep now. She got up and headed into the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face.

She let the cool liquid hit her skin and her thoughts drifted. _It wasn't my fault. I can't keep doing this. It has to stop. _But what could she do? She _was not_ going to a shrink. That was decided, but her greatest fear was that it might start affecting her work. She couldn't put her patients in danger, and would never forgive herself if anything happened to them because of her. And what about her co-workers? What if they found out? She was a good actress, but not that good. If she didn't do something, they'd eventually start noticing. They weren't _that_ stupid. And what about House? Oh God, House. He couldn't know. She'd rather die than have him know about her sins.

Turning off the water, she leaned back against the opposite wall and closed her eyes. It was so long ago. Why couldn't she get over it? Of course, she knew the answer to that. This was just something you don't get over.

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So that's it, hope you liked it. Yes, it's short, and so is chapter 2, but they'll get longer after that. 


	2. Chapter 2

Alright, here is chapter 2 of my little masterpiece:). Again, it's short, but I promise, after this chapter they get longer. Please read and review.

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Cameron walked into the diagnostics office at 8:15 that morning. She had dark circles under her eyes, but she ignored them, and went straight to the coffee maker to start House's coffee. _Just keep it normal_, she thought to herself. But for some reason, House was early that morning.

"Typical Cameron. Always here starting my coffee, even when I never express any gratitude," House said.

Cameron turned around to hand him his coffee and gave a weak smile. But unfortunately, even this early in the morning, House still had the sharpest radar of anyone she knew.

"You didn't sleep last night, did you?" he asked, a look of concern crossing his face.

"Yes I did," Cameron lied.

"You're a horrible liar," House told her. "So what's going on?"

"Nothing," Cameron said irritably. "I'm fine."

"uh-huh. Sure you are."

"House! Just leave me alone!"

Chase and Foreman walked into the room in time to hear that last comment. "…uh, hi, what'd we miss?" Chase asked.

House and Cameron turned to look at them. They were both silent for a moment. "It seems Cameron's been experiencing a little bit of insomnia," House finally spoke.

"No I haven't!" Cameron retorted, raising her voice.

"You do look a little pale," Foreman added.

"Why can't you people just accept that I'm fine?" she asked, exasperated.

"Because you're clearly not," House answered.

"What is it gonna take to get you to drop this?"

"Go home. Get some actual sleep. Come back when you're not about to faint."

She opened her mouth to protest, but House raised a hand to shush her. She looked around the room, and when she realized she was clearly not going to get any help from her fellow ducklings, she sighed, rolled her eyes, and left the room, picking up her coat on the way out.

All three looked after her. "So what was that about?" Chase asked.

"I'm not sure yet," House responded. "But I'm going to find out."


	3. Chapter 3

You should know the drill by now, so do I really have to say all this stuff again? The one thing I do want to mention is this chapter ends in a cliffhanger, but I want you to keep in mind that things are not always as they seem...Wow, that's specific, huh?

As always, reviews welcome!

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Gregory House had always been a curious boy. As a child, he was constantly getting into trouble because he just _had_ to have an explanation for everything. It drove his mother crazy. He gave her constant headaches and was always throwing his family's lives into chaos. Obviously, not much had changed. 

So here he stood later that afternoon on Allison Cameron's doorstep. Still very curious about what was going on with her, but he was also experiencing a different emotion that he never did as a child. Caring. He didn't know why, but he was worried about her. He wanted to take care of her. It was also a thought that scared him to death.

Finally, he picked up his cane and knocked on the door. There was a long silence before it finally opened to reveal a very dishevelled-looking Allison Cameron.

"Are you okay?" he asked before she could say anything.

"uh huh" she responded quietly. It appeared as if he actually had woken her up. _Great, I send her home to get some sleep, and then I keep her from doing it_, House thought to himself.

Cameron then seemed to become more aware of the man standing before her and an alarmed look appeared on her face.

"House, what are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you."

"I didn't think you cared," she responded coolly.

He sighed. "Can I come in?"

Cameron appeared to be thinking about his request, and so in order to help speed up the thought process, he spoke again.

"Cameron, I just wanna know what's going on," he pleaded with her.

"What makes you think you have a right to know?"

"Because I'm your boss, and because I…I care about you Cameron. I know you don't believe that, but I do, and I wanna try to help you." There, the cat was out of the bag. The hard part was over. Now, her reaction was going to be the interesting part.

Cameron sighed disbelievingly. "Did it ever occur to you that this is something you can't help with?"

"No, but did it ever occur to you that we won't know that for sure until we try?"

The two of them stood there for a moment, and she finally stepped away from the door, and he walked inside.

It was a cozy little apartment. Very fitting for Cameron. The walls were painted a warm yellow colour and the couch looked like one of those ones where if you sat down on it you'd never want to get back up again.

"So, did you get any more sleep?" he asked her.

"Yeah, a little," she answered.

There was another long silence, before he decided to take the plunge with his next question.

"So what happened?"

"huh?" she responded.

"What happened to make you…this," he asked, gesturing at her.

She sighed and walked over to the window, starring out it at nothing in particular, just trying to avoid his eyes. "You don't even wanna know."

"Yes I do!" he said, frustrated. "I told you, I want to help."

She turned to face him. "But if I tell you, who knows what you'll think of me."

"Cameron, don't you think I'm the last guy to pass judgement on somebody when it comes to ethics?"

He had a point there. "Okay," she sighed. "I guess you're right."

He smiled. _Now we're getting somewhere_. "Good. Start at the beginning."

"Remember how I told you I wasn't an only child?" he nodded. "Well, there was a reason I used the past tense. My sister…my sister…is dead," she finally managed to get out.

House looked shocked. He didn't see that one coming. "What?"

"No, I can't do this, this is wrong," she said, looking away again, and he could see her starting to tear up.

He stepped closer to her. "No, you have to tell me. I promise not to judge. What happened?"

She took a deep breath. "I killed my sister."

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So, did ya see that coming? 


	4. Chapter 4

This chapter explains most of Cameron's story, with a few loose ends that are tied up in chapter 5. However, that's not going to be the end of the story, so don't think that.

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For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, silence filled the room. House's mind was still reeling. "You what?" he asked, bewildered. 

Tears were flowing freely down Cameron's cheeks now. "It was my fault. I killed my sister. My own flesh and blood."

House couldn't believe that. Not Cameron. Not sweet little Cameron. She couldn't be capable of that. "A-are you sure?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Yes, of course I'm sure!" she said, hurt by the question.

"I'm sorry, I just-I don't believe it."

"Well, believe it, 'cause it's true," she said bitterly.

"So…uh…how did you do it?" House was uncomfortable with this conversation, but his curiosity was getting the better of him.

"When I was a teenager, I kind of ran wild," she stated.

"You?" House asked, raising his eyebrows. This caused Cameron to let out a small laugh.

"I know, right?" she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "But I did. And my sister did too."

House was still unsure where she was going with this, but he continued to listen.

"We were really close, probably because we were twins. Identical twins. We knew each other better than anyone in the whole world. In fact, it was kind of like we had our own little world," she smiled at the memory. "But our lifestyle wasn't what it should have been. Our father was some big political guy in England, where we used to live. We had this huge mansion and everything. We never really understood why he was so important, nor did we care. All we knew was he was rich and famous, and that gave us the opportunity to do anything we wanted, whenever we wanted."

"So, are you from England?"

"No, we were born here. In Connecticut, to be exact, but we moved there to live with our father. It's kind of complicated, but basically, we didn't know he was our father till we were nine, and so we lived here with our mom, but somehow he found out about us, and we all moved to England and were one big happy family for a while," she said the last part with a bit of sarcasm in her voice. House had figured that she had some issues with her parents, maybe this was why.

"Anyway, when we were about fourteen, we started getting interested in boys, and were always out on dates with different guys practically every night." This didn't surprise House, she was a beautiful girl, obviously guys would be banging down the door to go out with her.

"Eventually I found someone that I wanted to see exclusively, so I did. And it was great for a while. He was amazing to me, treated me like a princess. And of course it helped that he was hot," she threw that last part in just for the heck of it, and it appeared to not go unnoticed by House.

"But about six months into the relationship, things started to go sour. He was becoming really possessive. With the exception of Emily, my sister, I hardly ever saw my friends anymore. I wanted some time away from him every once in a while, but it seemed like he wouldn't allow that. He was constantly hanging around me and if by some rare strike of luck he wasn't, he was calling me every five minutes, wanting to know what I was doing, or if we could get together. It was really starting to annoy me, and even scare me a little."

At this point, House was getting concerned. So, what? Did he stalk her or something? If that was the case, he'd hunt this guy down and kill him.

"I broke it off with him. Told him I didn't like how he was acting. In fact, I think I told him to get a life."

"So, not the nice, typical, 'it's not you, it's me,' thing, huh?" House asked.

Cameron gave a small laugh. "Nope, back then, I wasn't too concerned with whether or not I hurt people's feelings, I just wanted him to leave me alone." She looked down at her feet. "But, it seemed to backfire. I wasn't counting on his reaction, I didn't even take it into consideration. I just thought I could brake up with him and he'd move on with his life, just like that. We were fifteen for Christ's sake! Nobody cares that much about a relationship when you're fifteen."

"But he did?"

"Yep. He became even more obsessed with me. Calling me even more often than he had when we were together. And he came by a lot too. I had to get my dad to tell the guards to throw him off the property whenever he showed up."

"Did you call the police?"

"Emily wanted me to. But I just told her that he was harmless. Going through a brake-up he didn't want to, and that he'd get over it and move on soon enough. He was good looking, he'd find another girl in no time, and I'd be history."

"But that didn't happen, did it?" House asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

Then the tears started again. He could tell she was getting to the climax of the story. He reached over to the end table and handed her a tissue. There was a pause while she took it from him, and then smiled gratefully before continuing.

"One night, I was out with my new boyfriend, and a bunch of our friends, Emily included. We were going to a movie or something, I don't really remember, and Emily said she had to go home, because she wasn't feeling well. I offered to go with her, but she told me to stay, and her boyfriend said he'd take her, since he had a car." She took a breath. This next part was gonna be hard. "Then, about half an hour later, I got a call from him at the restaurant we had gone to for dinner. He told me that…..that…"

"Shh, take your time," House said soothingly.

She took another deep breath and tried to calm herself. Then she squeaked out the last part before dissolving into tears. "He told me that Emily was dead. She had been shot. In the head, and she died instantly. He called the paramedics, but there was nothing they could do. She was gone."

House didn't know what to do. He had never been expecting this. With nothing else to say, he pulled her into his arms, and she sobbed on his shoulder. He could feel her small body shaking, and no matter how tight he squeezed, it wouldn't stop.

"I'm so sorry Cameron," he said. "But I still don't see how this is your fault."

She pulled back from him. "Oh yeah, that's the great part. She was shot by my ex-boyfriend. The crazy one. He was aiming for me."

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Isn't that sad! Reviews welcome! 


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, I just wanna make something clear. I really don't mind critiscism, as long as it's CONSTRUCTIVE. Don't just tell me the story sucks, tell me why it sucks.

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Shock appeared on House's face. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to say.

"We looked so much alike that he couldn't tell the difference. And he was waiting in the bushes outside the house, just out of view of the guards, and just fired right away. Apparently he had great aim too."

"Stop." House said sharply, grabbing her shoulders and leaning down to make eye contact with her. "Stop this right now. This was not your fault! You couldn't have known that he was going to be there, and you certainly couldn't have stopped him. The guy was a nutcase!"

She started to cry even more than she already had been. "But it should have been me. I should have been there that night. Maybe if I had gone with her, he wouldn't have fired at all 'cause he wouldn't have known who to shoot."

"You can't torture yourself with the what if's," House told her.

"How can I not think about it? He wouldn't have even have been in our lives if it wasn't for me."

"Okay," House said, sighing. This clearly wasn't getting them anywhere. He put his arm around her shoulders and started to steer her towards the couch. "You sit down and don't move."

"What are you gonna do?" she asked, confused.

"Just stay there!" he said, as he started to head towards the back of her apartment.

Cameron heard the fumbling of pots and pans. _Oh no, don't tell me he's going to attempt to cook_, she thought. Hadn't she been through enough?

Five minutes later, he emerged from the kitchen carrying of bowl of something that appeared to be very hot.

She looked at it, and then raised her eyebrows at him as he set the bowl down in front of her.

"Chicken soup?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorry, Wilson's the gourmet chef, not me." He gave her a small smile, which she returned. "Now eat, woman! I'm betting you haven't in days!"

He knew her too well. She picked up the spoon and began to eat. It was nice, to just sit there and be waited on hand and foot. Especially from House, that was rare.

He sat there watching her for a few minutes, and then decided to ask a question that had been bugging him ever since he heard her story.

"Cameron?"

"Mmm?" she responded.

"Whatever happened to that guy? The one that killed your sister?"

There was a long pause as she set the soup down. "He went to jail. Got a really long sentence too, because of who my father was. The story was spread all across the front page of the papers for months. Everyone felt so bad for our family, and thought he was a monster."

"Well, he was," House said.

"Yeah, but the people there were really cruel. And no one ever lost interest in the story. They were always hounding us too. Wanting interviews, and statements. It was suffocating."

"So what did you do?"

Cameron sighed and looked down at her hands. "You can tell me," House said, trying to meet her eyes.

"I know, I'm sorry, it's just…hard to recount." He gave her a small nod, and it seemed to give her the strength to continue.

"When Emily died, my family started to fall apart. She was the glue. Always the more levelheaded one than I was, and got along with our parents better. They understood her better, and I think they loved her more than they did me."

"I'm sure they loved you equally."

"Oh, now you're gonna start sugar-coating things?" Cameron asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

House smiled. At least she still had her sense of humour, after everything she'd been through.

"Anyway, when she died, my dad shut himself off from us. He buried himself in his work, and didn't really pay attention to me or my mom anymore. It put a strain on their marriage, and my relationship with him. I remember thinking that all I wanted was to see him show me some kind of human emotion, but he was so determined to be a robot in front of me."

"He was just trying to be strong, for your sake."

"I know that now, but back then, it just annoyed the hell outta me. So, eventually, my mom got fed up with him. He wasn't being a husband to her anymore, so she decided to leave him. She took me with her, and we moved back to the States."

"So you lost all contact with him?" House asked, surprised.

"Pretty much, yeah. My mom said that if he wanted to get in touch with me, he would. And he never did, so I just took that to mean he didn't want me in his life anymore."

"Cameron"

"I know. But back then I was a very messed up fifteen year old. I believed what I wanted to believe. And I became very cynical. I even got into drugs in the later years."

Apparently this night was full of surprises for House. Cameron into drugs? On the other hand, he knew she was damaged, he just didn't know it was this bad. He almost hated himself for questioning her that day two years ago in his office. He was just toying with her; he had never expected what he had found out about her today. It was at this point that House glanced over at the clock. Wow, he had been at Cameron's apartment for four hours. And it was getting late. "You done with that soup?" he asked.

Cameron glanced down at her bowl. "Yeah, thanks, you didn't have to do that y'know."

"Yes I did. And now, I have to get you off to bed."

"House, I'm not even tired, I just slept, remember?"

"Yes, but you also were up at least half of last night, and who knows how many other nights, so you're still behind on sleep," he countered. Why could she never win with him? "Now, go on, off to bed young lady, or do I have to carry you?"

Cameron laughed. "You couldn't if you tried."

"Wanna test that theory?" House asked, leaning down to pick her up.

"No! No! Okay, I'll go," Cameron said, cringing as he came towards her.

"That's better," House said, as she started to get up. She reached for her soup bowl, but he intercepted. "I'll take it, you get some rest."

She smiled. "Thanks. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he said, and Cameron swore she saw a small smile from him too.

House headed into the kitchen, and deposited her dish in the sink. He thought about doing dishes for her, but he quickly noticed that there weren't any dishes in the sink, so it was pointless to use more dish soap now. _Good thing I got here when I did, she probably would have become anorexic_. Plus, it would have been weird for him to just be hanging around her apartment while she slept. Not only creepy for her, but too domestic for him. He hadn't had that since Stacy, and he wasn't ready for it again. She knew that. He'd made it painfully clear on their "date". He shuddered at the memory. Why was he so mean to her? If he'd known…but of course, there was no way he could have known. She hid it well. At least, up until the last few days.

Turning around, he made his way out of the kitchen, shutting off the light on the way out. He decided to check and make sure she was really sleeping before he left, so he walked to the other end of the apartment. He located her bedroom easily, and carefully opened the door. When he peered in, he saw her lying in the bed, sound asleep, and it appeared to be a peaceful sleep, which satisfied him. He closed the door and headed back down the hall. It wasn't until he reached the door that he saw a problem. When he left, he'd leave the door unlocked. He didn't want to leave her vulnerable like that. He didn't like it, and it wasn't safe. And he couldn't wake her up just to lock the door behind him He looked around. _What to do, what to do_. Then, a thought occurred to him. He opened the door and stepped outside. Reaching up, he moved his hand around inside a light just above the door. Finally, his hands grasped a metal object. He pulled it out. _Perfect. Just like Cuddy, a spare key within three metres of the door. _He smiled to himself, popped his head back into the apartment, located the light switch, flipped it off, and shut the door. After locking it with the newly discovered spare key, he did something rather bold. He may have been out of line, but he didn't care. He took out his key ring and attached Cameron's key to it. Without another thought, he turned on his heel and headed down the hall, smiling to himself as he went.

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The key thing is going to come into the story later on. But I'm not going to say anything more than that:) Please review! 


	6. Chapter 6

This chapter isn't very dramatic or very long, but it has another cliffhanger ending. You might be able to guess this one, but oh well.

Did I mention I love reviews?

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Catholics use confessionals to rid themselves of unwanted blame and sin. Cameron wasn't religious, nor had she ever been, but she felt like she had just stepped out of a confessional. When she woke up that morning, having slept through the night for the first time in weeks, she felt refreshed, and didn't feel like she had to drag herself out of bed and to work. She liked that feeling. What also surprised her was how House had acted. She thought that telling him would be embarrassing, but he somehow managed to make her feel comfortable. It was that thing. That thing he had that she couldn't pinpoint or give a name, but made her like him even more. True, when you dump a something like that on someone, their reaction is probably going to be strange, but she had never expected him to actually resemble a real human being as much as he had the night before. She appreciated it. Really, she did, and now she was reconsidering giving up on him. Maybe the tin man really did have a heart. 

She had thought about the possibility of it being different between them at work, but after further analysis, she realized that it was House, and there was no way he'd treat her differently just because of what she had told him. Besides, then people would start asking questions. Wilson, Chase and Foreman, Cuddy. House wouldn't want to hint that something had happened between them. By something, she didn't mean romantically. It was almost like, dare she say a friendship? It might not be something that would continue, but it was there. It had happened. This thought made her smile as she walked into the diagnostics office.

HMDHMDHMD

"Hey, so where were you last night? You didn't have a hooker scheduled again did you?" Wilson asked House as they walked towards Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.

"Oh, no. I just wanted to take the bike out for a spin."

Wilson looked closer at his friend. "Where did you really go last night?"

House turned to look at him. "I told you, I just went out for a ride. Didn't stop anywhere."

"uh-huh. Then why are you so happy? Something happened last night. Come on, just tell me what it is," he pleaded. Yes, Wilson needed a life, he knew that, but House's was far too interesting for him to worry about that.

"I think I'm gonna leave that to you and your imagination," House said, stepping into the elevator. He was lucky, and the doors closed with Wilson on the other side.

HMDHMDHMD

"It was amazing! He scored 81 points alone!" Foreman exclaimed to his slightly less-interested colleagues.

"Sounds like fun," Chase replied in monotone.

Foreman rolled his eyes at him and turned to Cameron. "What about you Cam? How was your night?"

"Oh, fine," she answered, adding milk to her coffee.

"And everything's okay? From yesterday?"

"Yeah, much better," she offered up a small smile and then placed the coffee to her lips.

"I still don't get it," Chase spoke, apparently unaware of the last exchange. "How is basketball entertaining for you? It's just a bunch of guys running around fighting for a tiny ball and then jumping on each other when they get it through a tiny hoop."

"That's your problem. You don't know how to relax and have fun. I bet both of you haven't had a fun night in years." Foreman replied.

Cameron smiled as she listened to her two colleagues argue about the definition of fun. What would she do without these two? Oh yeah, probably keep her mind.

Just then, House walked in with their next case. "Hello people!" he said loudly.

"Hey, is that a case in your hand?" Foreman asked hopefully, dropping his argument with Chase.

"No, it's a list of all the hookers I've been with this month," he said, throwing a rather thick file on the conference table. Foreman picked it up and opened it.

"27-year-old female. Presents with a whole bunch of really bad things that we need to fix," House stated, turning to face the group.

"ICP's elevated, we should get a CAT scan," Foreman said, looking up from the file.

"And an MRI," Cameron said, as he handed it to her.

"Okay, good. Go." House said.

The ducklings moved to exit the room. _See, normal_. Cameron thought to herself. Good. She didn't want House treating her any differently just because he knew her secret.

She wanted to put it behind her. She needed to be strong.

If only she knew what was in store for her when she turned the corner.

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Sorry, another note, that is about as complicated as the medical terminiology is going to get in this story. I'm sorry, but I just don't possess the ability to focus on such matters and therefore cannot place them in my story. However, this is a character driven story, so I probably won't be mentioning any medical stuff throughout the rest of it. 


	7. Chapter 7

I think this is my favourite chapter so far. It demonstrates how powerful a friendship between these two charcters could be, and how it could work.

Please R and R!

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Their patient was screwed. She had a brain tumour, no doubt about it, and House was on a manhunt for Cuddy since she had given them such an easy case. But Cameron wasn't particularly worried about any of that right at this moment. She had bigger problems. 

She had been walking down the hall reading a chart when she glanced up to turn the corner. Once she had reached the other side, she came face to face with her mortal enemy.

She froze, and the patient chart she had been holding crashed to the floor, making a big enough noise to get the attention of almost everyone around her.

"Hey Allie"

"G-g-ga-Gabe. Wh-what are you doing here?" she stuttered out.

"We have some unfinished business"

"No we don't! And how the hell did you get out of jail?"

"Made nice with the right people. Turns out your dad isn't as powerful as he once was." The man smirked as he said this.

Cameron didn't know what else to do. She could not be around this man. He had killed her sister. She was terrified of him. She turned on her heel and ran. She ran faster than she'd ever run in her life. As if she was running _for_ her life. She didn't stop until she was safely in her car, and quickly started the engine. She didn't care about the looks she had gotten from people as she made her mad dash through the halls, she just had to get out of there.

HMDHMDHMD

There were times when some of the doctors had Princeton Plainsboro wondered if they worked at a gossip magazine or a hospital. The news of Dr. Cameron's marathon run through the building had spread like wildfire among the staff. To everyone that is, except Dr. House.

"Okay, so have any of you found me a new patient yet?" House asked as he came through the glass doors of the conference room.

Foreman and Chase both stared at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Is that really what you're worried about right now?" Foreman asked.

"Well, seeing as I am a doctor, and I do get paid to cure people, yeah, I'd like a new patient." Then he stopped and looked around the room. "Where's Cameron?"

"So you didn't hear," Chase spoke up. "She ran into somebody that she knows and apparently wasn't very happy to see."

An alarmed look appeared on House's face. "What? Does this somebody have a name?"

"Nobody knows who he is, but when she saw him she ran the other way. Literally."

"How did I not know about this?" House asked, bewildered.

"I don't know, it's all anyone's been talking about," Foreman replied.

Just then the puzzle pieces started to come together in House's brain. "Oh my God," he said before hobbling out of the room as fast as his bum leg would carry him.

"Where are you going?" Foreman called after him, but there was no response.

HMDHMDHMD

"CAMERON! CAMERON, OPEN THIS DOOR!" House screamed from out in the hallway of Cameron's apartment building. He knew she was here, and he knew why she had run. It was him. He was back. Her sister's murderer, and she couldn't deal with that. Obviously, she had every right, but House was terrified for her and her safety. Who knows what she might do. This wasn't exactly an easy situation. He had to get to her.

He continued banging on the door for several more minutes. "DON'T MAKE ME BREAK THIS DOOR DOWN!" He'd called to her through the wood. Then, a thought struck him. He didn't have to break the door down. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his key ring. Hers was on it. He jammed it in the lock and turned it. Once he had the door unlocked, he threw it open and was horrified at what he saw.

Her apartment looked like a tornado had struck it. Everything was broken and most of her possessions were on the floor. There were lamps tipped over, a vase of flowers on the floor with the water dripping onto the carpet, the phone was off the hook and sprawled all over the room, and there were shards of glass everywhere. But there was one thing missing. Cameron.

Carefully House made his way into the living room, trying not to step on any of the glass. He didn't see her anywhere, but she had to be here. Suddenly, he heard a noise. He stopped for a moment, and the noise became louder. It was a whimpering. He followed it further into the apartment and as he poked his head around a cabinet, there was Cameron, curled up on the floor, knees to her chest, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

He immediately rushed over to her, and knelt down beside her, throwing his cane to the side.

"Hey," he said softly. "That was him, wasn't it?"

She started to cry even harder, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest.

"Shh, it's okay, it's okay. He can't hurt you, I'm here now."

She sobbed uncontrollably for another ten minutes. All the while House just sat with her, slowly rocking her back and forth, not saying anything.

Finally, the crying stopped and she pulled away from him. "I'm sorry," she started.

"Hey," he said sternly, looking her straight in the eye. "Don't you dare be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for."

She sniffled and he looked around the room. "But I see your cleaning lady's gonna have quite a job ahead of her."

She gave him a small smile. "I don't have a cleaning lady."

"Of course you don't," he said. This was Cameron, she did her own cleaning. Then he noticed her hand. "Whoa, your hand. It's bleeding."

Cameron looked confused, and then followed his gaze to her right hand. "Oh, yeah, it is."

House looked at her closely, concern pouring out of his gorgeous blue eyes. "C'mon, let me get that bandaged up." He reached up to the cabinet, leaning on it so she could lean on him as he helped her to her feet. They walked to the bathroom and he immediately started going through her first aid kit.

Neither of them said anything while he cleaned the wound. "Well, the good news is you're not gonna need stitches," he said as he wrapped her hand tightly in gauze.

She didn't actually say anything to that, just let a brief sound of recognition escape her lips.

"Listen, Cameron," House started, feeling a bit uncomfortable, but assertive nonetheless. "I promise you, I'm gonna do everything I can to put this guy back in jail where he belongs."

She looked up at him gratefully for a moment, but then glanced away. "Thank you, but I don't see what you can do. He's out of jail. He's free."

"You can't give up just like that. The law's filled with loopholes. I'll find one."

A part of Cameron wanted to ask House why he was being so nice to her, but she knew that if she did she wouldn't get a straight answer, so instead she just nodded at him.

"Good. Now, I'm gonna grab a broom and start cleaning up out there, you go and get some rest."

"House, no. It's my mess, I'll clean it up."

"Right, and how exactly are you gonna do that wonder woman? You've only got one hand that you can use," he countered.

She sighed, he had a point, but she wasn't gonna let him win that easily. "Fine, then let me help you. Three hands are better than two."

House considered this a moment before he decided whether or not to protest. He finally decided to let her help. If he sent her to bed and just did it himself, not only would that be weird, but it would be one less thing she had any control over.

"Alright," he said, and he closed the first aid kit, putting it back where he had found it, and the two headed out to the disaster zone that was her living room.

They spent about a half an hour cleaning up the mess. It turned out Cameron owned a lot of breakable things. She swept while he put the phone back together, and then he swept while she salvaged a few things off the floor.

When they had it all cleaned up, they both plopped down on the couch, exhausted.

"Okay, I think I'm getting you a punching bag for your birthday," House said.

She laughed. "Yeah, who knew that someone like me could get that violent."

"Had me fooled. But maybe next time I want Cuddy off my back about clinic duty I should just send you after her."

They sat on her couch and shared casual conversation like that for the next little while. It was nice, that they could do that. Strange, but nice.

Finally, House looked at his watch and announced that it was getting late, and that he should go. They both rose from the couch and walked to her door.

"Thank you, for…this," she said, searching for the right word. It had suddenly become awkward again.

"You're welcome," he smiled at her, easing the tension, and he left her apartment. Once he was gone, she leaned against the door and smiled. Maybe there was hope for him yet.


	8. Chapter 8

I am so so so sorry that this took so long. I'm horrible. Please forgive me and read and review this chapter.

Disclaimer: House is not mine, but Emily, Gabe, and the new character in this chapter are.

* * *

For the next several days House began his mission to get Gabe locked back up where he belonged. He spent endless hours on the phone, talking to legal experts, and doing internet research on the murder and the Cameron family, since he didn't want to approach the subject with Cameron herself. He thought that maybe someone who had been close to the ordeal might be valuable in court, and luckily for him, this information was not hard to find.

Nick and Lindsay Cameron were basically considered royalty by everyone in London, England, where they resided with their twin daughters, Allison and Emily, for 8 years. Nick was a very important man, thus they had a large staff running around their huge mansion to care to their every need.

It turned out that the girls were so popular they even had their own assistant, who was in charge of their itineraries. Taking care of all the public events they attended, and things like that.

House had decided that he would have to call on these people, whether Cameron liked it or not, in order to accomplish his task. As he picked up the phone again, he wondered when the last time she spoke to them was. Especially her father…

HMDHMDHMD

In the diagnostics office, Foreman and Chase were sitting around twiddling their thumbs. They were still waiting for a new case, and if they didn't get one soon they were going to die of boredom.

Fortunately for them, God intended to keep them on this earth for just a little while longer.

"Whoa," Chase said, looking up from his crossword. Foreman followed his gaze to the door, where there stood a beautiful blonde haired woman, who appeared to be in her 40s.

Chase dropped the crossword and clumsily got out of the chair to go greet the woman. "Hi," he said, beaming ridiculously at her. "I'm Dr. Robert Chase, can I help you?"

She smiled back. "Kelly St.Clair," she said, taking his extended hand and shaking it. "I'm a friend of Allie's."

"Oh, Cameron, right, well, she's not here right now, but I can page her for you." Chase offered.

"No, that's alright, I'm actually here to see Dr. House."

Foreman and Chase exchanged a glance. "You are?"

"Yeah, he called me, and well, I don't really want to go into the details, but basically he told me I was needed here, so I hopped on a plane and here I am."

The two men were each trying to come up with something to say to that, but their quests were ended when the doctor in question waltzed through the door. Kelly turned around and it seemed like they both immediately knew who the other was.

"Ms. St. Clair I presume?" House asked.

"Oh, please, call me Kelly. It's nice to meet you Dr. House." They shook hands, to which Foreman and Chase both raised their eyebrows, and then House spoke again.

"We can talk in my office," he said, motioning to his right. Kelly followed him into the office and House shut the door, leaving his two male ducklings still completely dumbfounded.

HMDHMDHMD

"So, this is about Allie?" Kelly asked, taking a seat across from House.

"Yes, and thank you for getting here so quickly."

Kelly smiled. "Well, I'd do anything for that girl."

It was House's turn to smile. "So, I take it you were close with her? While she lived in England?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I was. I was basically the only adult in that house that Allie and Emily could confide in."

"So then you were around her a lot after her sister was killed?"

Kelly looked him straight in the eye. "Dr. House, how exactly do you know about that?"

"I told you on the phone-"

"You told me that you needed my help to put Gabe Manning back in jail. You never told me how you found out that Gabe Manning existed."

House looked at her for a moment. Then he decided to tell her the whole story.

"Look, I found out from Cameron, or Allie, I guess you call her. She was…having a rough time of it lately and I wanted to know what was going on,"

Kelly looked surprised. "She really told you about all of this? I'm sorry, I just find that a bit hard to believe,"

"And why's that?"

She hesitated for a moment before speaking. "The whole thing was hell for her. She barely survived it the first time, and she doesn't like to rehash it, so somehow I don't see her pouring her heart out to her boss just because he notices that something is bothering her."

House had to hand it to this lady, she had spunk. "Well, what can I say, I can be pretty demanding. Besides, it's not like she had anyone else to talk to about it."

A hurt look then appeared across Kelly's face. "I tried to get her to talk to me after it happened. But she just shut down. She closed herself off from everyone. At least when she was still at the mansion I could keep an eye on her, but then when she and her mother moved back to the States she was finally able to sever all ties with us."

"By us, you mean…"

"The London World. Her father, me, the rest of the staff, her father's political friends, her own friends."

House nodded. "Ms. St. Clair," she gave him a look. "Kelly," he corrected. "I need to know everything that happened during Gabe Manning's trial."

"There's not much to tell. The forensic evidence was rock solid, he had motive, means, and opportunity, there was a witness, and the prosecutor did a great job at making him look insane. Not that that was very hard to do…" she trailed off, remembering. There was silence in the room for a moment.

"So, his sentence was 133 years, right?"

She nodded. "It was that instead of life to prevent him from making parole early. Apparently it didn't work though."

"Kelly, I promised Cameron and I'll promise you. I'll get that monster locked up again."

She smiled gratefully at him. "Well, thank you, for at least trying. And I'll be whatever help I can. Do you have any idea how you're going to get him put back in jail?"

"I've been talking to some people, and going over as much information as I could get my hands on about the case, and I think I might have an answer to that very soon."

"Good. Every minute he's free is another minute no one is safe."

House nodded in agreement, and then Kelly spoke again. "I just can't believe he showed up here. That must have been terrifying for Allie. How is she?"

House sighed. "It was a shock to her, obviously, but she's doing okay now. She's actually trapped down in the clinic right now, but if you want I can give you her home address."

"Would you? I've been wanting to see her for so long."

House took out a notepad and scribbled Cameron's address down on it. As he tore it off and handed it to Kelly he said, "and I'll be in touch as soon as I have any new developments."

"Thank you," she said, rising from her chair and exiting the office.

HMDHMDHMD

Kelly walked down a long hallway and stopped in front of the door to apartment 21. She took a deep breath. _What if she doesn't want to see me? We haven't talked in years_. Although it was ludicrous, Kelly sometimes thought that Allie blamed her a little bit for what happened to Emily. Not for the fact that Gabe had shot her, but in Allie's eyes, Kelly represented the reason Gabe was even in her life. Her father's politics had brought her to London, and Kelly was apart of that, she was his aide, and London was where she had met him, so for a long time she had been angry with almost everyone in that house.

Finally, Kelly lifted her hand up and knocked on the door three times. It opened, to reveal a smiling Allison Cameron. When she saw Kelly, the smile faded, and a look of shock appeared.

"Hi," Kelly said softly when it looked like Cameron wasn't going to say anything.

"Hi," she responded, equally as soft. "Come in."

Kelly stepped into the apartment and looked around. It was a nice little place she had. Very different from the mansion, but Kelly had a feeling that that was the idea.

"Can I get you anything? Coffee?" Cameron asked, her hospitality skills kicking in.

"Sure, a coffee sounds nice."

Cameron headed into the kitchen to make the coffee. Kelly moved casually around the room, exploring.

Cameron emerged a few minutes later with two mugs of steaming hot coffee, and handed one to Kelly.

"Thanks. This is a nice little place you have here."

"Yeah, I like it."

The two women stood there awkwardly for a moment before Cameron's curiosity got the better of her.

"So, why are you here?" It probably wasn't the best way to phrase it, but oh well.

"Actually, I'm here because Dr. House called."

"He did?" Cameron asked, surprise and a bit of annoyance creeping into her voice.

"Yeah, he wants my help with…y'know. The Gabe thing." Kelly said. She hated using his name.

"I see," Cameron responded. "Well, did he tell you what he's planning?"

Good. They were still capable of carrying on a conversation. "No, I told him what I knew and he said he'd be in touch. He hasn't said anything to you?"

Cameron shook her head. "No, we haven't really been talking about it much."

"That seems odd, because he's very determined to put him away again."

"Yeah, well, that's the thing. My relationship with House, it is odd."

The corners of Kelly's lips curled up. After all the time she had spent with Allie she knew when there was more to the story than she was letting on. Especially when it came to men. "Ah, yes, do tell. I've been trying to figure out what exactly the relationship is since I got here."

Cameron smiled too, and then sat down on the couch. Kelly took the chair next to it, and they both leaned towards each other a bit. "I like him. We went on one date, and then one not-a-date, but the actual date didn't go so well."

"I'm sure you could change whatever happened on the date. To tell you the truth Al, I think he really likes you, and you'd make a hot couple."

"But House isn't exactly the easiest person to get to know. He puts up these walls. I'm sure you saw the cane when you met him, and although he won't admit it, he's very insecure about that, and so he likes to keep people at a distance. He only has one real friend in the hospital. Other than that really the only people he associates with are me, Foreman, Chase, and Dr. Cuddy, his boss, and only because he has to."

Kelly listened intently as Allison talked. They had been in touch a few times in the last fifteen years. At Christmases a few times, when the holidays tempted one of them to call, or on a birthday, just to say hi. She knew that Allison worked for a top diagnostician, and she was very proud of her for that. She always knew that Allie was destined for greatness. She had this aura about her growing up in that house. Such a determination, the situations she and her sister had gotten in to, the things the staff did to help them get out of them. Those were good times…

"Well, my advice, don't give up on him just yet. He'll come around eventually."

Cameron smiled. "So," she said leaning back on the couch. "What about you? Any news worthy developments?"

Kelly and Cameron exchanged stories back and forth about their lives. Kelly was careful around the issue of her dealings with Cameron's father. She didn't really know what the status was there, but she didn't think it was good. Cameron seemed okay to listen to her talk about her political career, and the things she was up to, the occasional flames in her life. Kelly had never found the right person to settle down with. Being in London politics was a lot like being a doctor, not a lot of time for a social life. But she didn't really mind. Truth be told, she was kind of married to her job. She lived for it. It gave her such an adrenaline rush, something many people couldn't understand. All politics did was give them headaches.

After a while of sitting and talking like the old days, Cameron made a sweet and surprising offer.

"Hey, you want to see the place?"

Kelly quickly nodded in the affirmative. Although she was only 10 years younger than her, Kelly still felt protective over Allison and wanted to see how she was living. Plus, she was very grateful that they were able to spend this time together.

Cameron gave her the grand tour of the apartment, and they ended up at the back in Cameron's bedroom. Kelly was walking over to the dresser when something caught her eye.

Carefully, she picked up a silver charm bracelet from the top of the dresser, and held it in her hands. When Cameron saw what she was looking at her face fell.

"Oh," she said softly.

Kelly turned to look at her. "I'm sorry, I just…"

"No, it's okay. I take it out and put it on sometimes just to remember."

This wasn't just any charm bracelet. Emily had a matching one. Their mother had given them to them for their 12th birthday, and everytime the girls went somewhere special, they would add a charm to each of their bracelets, some of them only they understood the meaning of.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you more," Kelly suddenly confessed.

Cameron looked up, surprised. "What? No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have shut you out. You were grieving too."

Kelly gave her a small smile. "That's what I wanted you to know back then. I wanted to help. We all did."

"I know, and it means a lot to me now. Everything you all did and tried to do was so touching, it really did almost make up for dad."

"Hey," Kelly said sharply. "I know you think that he abandoned you in all of this, but he still cares Allie. He lost a daughter, but he still has a daughter left, and he values that so much."

"Then why doesn't he call? Why did he never call after mom and I left?"

"Lindsay told him to only get in touch with you if he was going to stick around. She hated how much time he spent in his work even before Emily died. If he was going to be your father, she wanted him to commit full time. When she told him that he was still in shock about Em, and wasn't really making big, rash decisions like that."

"How hard is it to decide to be a father to your child?"

"Al, you're not being fair. His whole career was in London."

"So! Mom, Em, and I dropped everything and moved there! Why couldn't he do the same?"

Kelly looked at Allison for a moment. It was so evident how much pain her father's neglect had caused her. Kelly wished there was something she could do to fix it. It was in her nature to help Allie, to fix things for her.

Cameron sat down on the bed and sighed. Kelly put the bracelet down and came over to sat next to her. They were both silent for a moment, just staring at the opposite wall.

"I'm sorry, you're right. There's no point in me getting angry with him. I can't change the past."

Kelly smiled at her. After everything that had happened, she had wished that father and daughter could have been closer, she thought it was what Emily would have wanted, but this was a start. Trying not to be angry.

"Look, I'm probably going to be in town for a while, so if you want to talk,"

"I know, thanks." Cameron said. She glanced at her watch. "It's late, I don't want to keep you. What hotel are you staying at?"

"The Marriott," Kelly responded.

"Okay, maybe we can get together. For lunch or something?" Cameron said as they stood up and walked back down the hall.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Kelly said, smiling. When the two got to the door they stood there for a moment, and then hugged each other tightly. They hadn't done that in a long time. It was nice.

"It's good to see you Kel," Cameron said. "I'm glad you're here. You've already been a big help."

"I'm glad to be here." Kelly said, and then she turned and left the apartment. Overall, it hadn't gone so bad. Maybe the two of them could still salvage that friendship they had had all those years ago.


	9. Chapter 9

**Yay! Finally! This chapter is not the end, so please don't think that, and I love every single on of you that reviewed. Cookies all around!**

**And please continue to review, especially if you haven't before:)**

The Princeton County Courthouse was a very sophisticated looking building. The halls were lined with tall pillars engraved with complicated and enchanting designs, and white marble floors and staircases. It looked very stylish, considering the thugs that passed through it everyday.

In courtroom 21B, there was a group of people assembled by the prosecution table, standing in a circle and talking in hushed voices.

"House, are you going to tell me what your plan is now?" Cameron complained for the forty-third time that morning.

She, House, Kelly, and the district attorney were standing around waiting for the hearing to begin. House had already been in contact with the DA, but neither of the men had enlightened Cameron or Kelly with the situation. He was a handsome man, with light brown hair and the same colour eyes. He was dressed in a light grey suit, and overall looked very polished. His appearance gave off a little sense of comfort, which Cameron appreciated right at the moment.

She was already very anxious, and it didn't help that she was walking in blind to this thing.

"It's just like I told you," House responded. "I found a loophole."

"All rise!"

They turned to see a door opening to reveal an older man in a black robe.

"The honourable Judge Lucas Taylor presiding."

"Be seated," the man said, easing into his own chair behind the bench.

Cameron, Kelly, and House took their seats in the front row behind the DA's table. Then another door opened and two officers walked Gabe Manning into the room.

Kelly cringed slightly, and Cameron looked down to smooth out an invisible fold in her green skirt.

As he was being escorted to the defence table, Gabe turned to look at them, and House tightened his grip on his cane. Man, he hated this guy.

"Mr. Manning," Judge Taylor said, "I see you have waved the right to counsel, is that correct?"

"Yeah, 'cuz I haven't done anything, I don't even know why I was arrested," Gabe replied.

"Your honour," the DA said, standing up. "It has come to our attention that the recently paroled Mr. Manning has, along with many other things, come to this country illegally."

"He has?" the judge responded, looking over his glasses at Gabe.

"Yes, the terms of his parole in London state that he cannot leave the country for three months," the DA told him.

"And the other things?"

"His parole also states that he cannot come within 500 metres of his victim's sister, Dr. Allison Cameron, but he did the minute he stepped on American soil." The DA turned to Gabe. "Did you even read the conditions of your parole?"

"Mr. Forrester," the judge warned. "That's enough." Then he turned his attention to Gabe. "Well, Mr. Manning, do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Yeah, I don't see why the hell I should have to leave Allie alone. She and I need to make up for lost time."

Cameron wasn't sure if what Gabe had just said made her more disgusted or nervous. How could he still be like this? Why was he so obsessed with her? With hurting her? Why couldn't he get over himself?

The remark had equally disturbed Kelly and House, and they were currently trying to restrain themselves.

"Alright, I think I've heard enough," Judge Taylor said, clearly not impressed with Gabe. "Gabe Manning, I find you guilty of breaking the terms of your parole agreement, and hereby sentence you to be deported to England where you will be put back in prison for a period of time to be determined by the England authorities. Adjourned." He slammed his gavel down, and then got up and left the courtroom, while the two burly officers that brought Gabe in took him back out of the room.

Cameron, Kelly, and House all stood up, relived. The DA stood up and turned to look at them, smiling. "Well, I hope that will give you all some peace of mind now. Gabe Manning is not getting out of prison again. In fact, if you like, I can stay in touch with the transporters and the lawyers overseas to make sure of that."

"Thank you, Mr. Forrester, we really appreciate all of this," House said, extending his hand to shake the DAs.

"And thanks to you, Dr. House. You were right to call me." Then he turned to Cameron. "Dr. Cameron, I sincerely hope that this helps you. No one should have to go through what you did, but now that monster's back in jail, so you can rest easy." She smiled at what he said. "Good luck to the three of you," and then he went back to the table to pack up his stuff, and they left the courtroom.

As they walked down the steps outside, Cameron was smiling at House.

"What?" he asked.

"Thank you," she said sweetly.

"You're welcome."

"Okay, so do you guys have to go right into work, or do you wanna go grab some lunch first?" Kelly asked.

"You girls go ahead." House said. "I'm gonna go home, get out of this monkey suit."

Cameron laughed and turned to Kelly. "Sure, sounds good," she looked back at House. "I'll see you at the office?"

"Yep, see ya there," and then he headed off to his corvette, while Cam and Kelly headed off towards Cameron's car.

Just as Cameron was about to get in the car, a cool breeze came up and whipped through her hair, which was partly pulled back in a barrette. She smiled then, thinking of how nice it felt, and how nice it was outside that day, and how nice it felt to know that Gabe Manning would never harm her again.


End file.
